Why I Am Choosing To Serve A Mission [and it's totally for the reason you're thinking it is.]

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The hipster deep within me says, "No....Kaela...don't blog about missionary work...that's what everyone is doing right now..." And then the other hipster within me is saying something like, "except, you've been getting excited about missionary work since one year ago today, so I guess it's okay." The truth is, I have been getting excited about missionary work for the past 12 exact months. Excited, and scared. Pretty much the way I'm feeling now, really.

Thanks to Nick Walton, I already knew about the announcement before it was made....but that only slightly lessened the shock of it. The truth is, I literally cried until I ran out of tears. I wanted to keep crying, but it was actually physically impossible. I don't know why I was crying, exactly. Lots of reasons. I know a lot of it was fear. But deep down, I know it was because I knew this was the answer to my prayers.

Why am I choosing to serve a mission? Well, right after the announcement I just got really excited and knew it was for me! I didn't even have to think about it, or pray about it, or anything! I just knew! I mean, they may as well have made it mandatory for all girls to serve, because let's be honest, who doesn't want to serve a mission?? If you don't want to serve a mission, geez, you must be some sort of heathen.

...............

My dear, wonderful, fellow female friends. Listen to me. NOBODY IS JUDGING YOU. You are loved! You are loved by your friends and family and Heavenly Father and your decision whether or not to serve a mission is between you and the Lord, and I hope you understand that and knows that everybody else understands that too. If you have never felt the desire to serve a mission, then by all means, don't go. If you are starting to think that a mission may be the thing for you, then I encourage you to prayerfully consider that and seek counsel from your family and friends and leaders. But that is totally, completely, 100% up to you. I really, really want every girl out there right now who is feeling judged or hated because of this announcement to know that this announcement was not intended to make you feel that way. Do not be angry. Do not feel hurt. There is simply no need and no place for that. The miracle of missionary work was never designed to make anyone feel second class. Also, this blog is not an attempt to persuade anyone to serve a mission. I wouldn't do that. The purpose of this blog is to explain why I, personally, am choosing to prepare for and serve a mission.

With that, I want to make a plea. There are those of us who have chosen to serve a mission, and I promise you, it is not to conform to a hype. This change in ages is a miracle, a miracle that is going to further the growth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Missionary work is not a "new fad" that everyone is just going to "get over it" and life will go back to normal. If you have been thinking that way, I am going to bluntly encourage you to stop thinking that way...right now. Up until a couple days ago, I never thought I was going to serve a mission, but after LOTS of prayerful consideration, tears, and thinking so much it felt like my head was going to explode...here is why I decided to serve a mission.

Alma 29:9 - "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy."

I have a strong, firm testimony of missionary work, and nothing makes me happier than seeing people being brought into the light of the gospel! Nothing would make me happier if I could devote 18 months of my life strictly to the Lord, and bringing more of His children into the gospel.

Second, I was watching Elder Holland's talk from the October 2011 Priesthood Session, "We Are All Enlisted." He was talking about senior couples being an example to their children and grandchildren...I'll admit I wasn't paying that close of attention, but there was one thing he said that struck me: "In this family, we serve missions." I realized that's exactly how I want my future family to be. I want that to be a standard within my family: "we serve missions." I know the dynamics of missionary work within families are going to change in the coming years, and when I raise my children I want to be an example to them. If my daughters choose to serve missions, I want to be an example to them and be able to help encourage them with my own experience.

But most of all, 2 Nephi 25:26 - "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins."

I want everyone to know about Christ. Simple as that.

There are about a thousand other reasons, but I don't think I'm going to share my life story on this blog. I hope you all know that this is an individual decision that I considered very, very carefully. And so I'm going to ask one more favor...I need help. I can't do this on my own. I need your support, and prayers. I need advice and counsel. Right now I'm more scared than excited but I know that I want to do this.

With that, there are some people I want to thank. First, Elder Matthew Woodruff, thank you for being the best example of a true missionary there ever was. You've been showing me what it means to be a missionary for longer than just the few months you've been gone. Watching you serve has given me so much courage and strength.

Second, my wonderful leaders, of which there are too many to name, but you know who you are, who have always encouraged my spiritual growth, and encouraged me to never give up. I miss you all so much and you better believe I'm going to be calling you up for some serious life counsel!

And most of all, my loving family. Thank you for letting me stay at home over the weekend and crying with me and giving me all of your wonderful advice. Dad, thanks for being a worthy priesthood holder so you could give me a blessing when I needed it. Mom, thanks for talking to me and giving me comfort and advice, and for being a great example. Stockton, I hope you're still cool with us putting in our papers at the same time!

If not for all of these people, I don't think I would be where I am today, and I definitely wouldn't be choosing to serve a mission. Whew! This is big. I'm scared, but I know it'll be worth it.

In advance, thank you for all of your support and prayers. And, bear with me, because this is all I'm going to talk about for the next 9 months.

Love,
Kaela

Here's to the only thing I ever talk about.

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Too bad this is the busiest week of my life, or I was going to draw a pie-chart for what I'm about to talk about! Which, really, is all I ever talk about, I'm beginning to notice.

Okay, so this is the only picture of the temple I have. This is the only picture of the temple even invented!! Except this picture is from the groundbreaking. But the picture within the picture (pik-ception) is the only one that has existed so far in time.

Okay, okay. Remember how I was all "They can take as long as they want to build the temple because blah blah and temple insurance blah blah!" Well that still mostly stands. But seriously, I cannot WAIT for the temple to be finished.

Last Sunday was the dedication for the Brigham City Temple. It was seriously one of the coolest things I have ever attended, and the whole time I couldn't help thinking how much more exciting it would be when the Tabernacle Temple is being dedicated, and the open house, and then getting to actually go inside and participate in all of the great work we get to do there!

You know those things that make you cry just by thinking about them? When I remember going to the tabernacle and watching it burn down, I cry. When I remember President Monson announcing they were turning it into a temple, I cry. And when I think about the day it's finished, and attending the dedication (I'm still holding out for a chance to be able to go to the dedication at the temple...) I cry. Because honestly, I am soooooooooooooooooo excited for the temple to be finished and I don't even know how to explain why. I just can't wait to see everything they do with it! Like, ah. I can't even imagine.

[A totally unrelated side note, I just googled "Where is Justin Bieber" because I wanted to see where his tour was kicking off, as today is day one, and I found a ridiculously creepy website that....tells you where Justin Bieber is! Via a picture of his face on a map! (he's in the United States right now, if you were curious)]

Anyways, I'm using a quote/story from the groundbreaking from Elder Holland's talk for my lesson tomorrow, and that's what got me thinking about all of this.

I'm going to make a grilled cheese sandwich now. Because I can. #college #mealplan #temples #2014 #yolo #tempernacle #hungry

Love,
Kaela

You Know You're In Cash Control When....

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Yes, I haven't blogged in what feels like an eternity. Yes, I haven't actually worked in Cash Control in a couple weeks. But I miss it, a lot, and I miss my Cash Control buddies. And I came up with this idea forever ago, so let this be my official tribute to Seven Peaks.

For all of the strange, wonderful things that happened in Cash Control, I present to you...

How to know if you're in Cash Control.

• Nothing brings you more anger than seeing the phrase "Chain Detected."
• You know there is nothing more disgusting than dried up, five year old rubberbands.
• Jeff Quirk and Joseph Ellet. NEED to total their floats. (And the day they did was one of the best moments of your life).
• You know all the words to Speak Now by Taylor Swift (just kidding! You actually don't. You're also really bad at karaoke).
• As long as we're talking about music...you probably know the words to every song that plays on One Direction Radio.
• Your singing voice is perfected from belting "My Heart Will Go On" (Celine!)
• You also know how to whisper sing...like a boss. (so sexy)
• The best way to kill bugs that get into Cash Control is by throwing bags of coin at them...obviously.
• If you're in Cash Control, chances are, you like a boy named Matt (exactly a 60% chance. Until you realize that certain boys named Matt like to make 14 year olds cry).
• You know that when Josh Mullen walks in, ish is about to go down.
• You also know that Josh Mullen makes the best snow cones.
• Whenever Josh Mullen walks in, you want a snow cone.
• You want a snow cone.
• JOSH MULLEN.
• You know how to pack several thousand dollars through a crowded waterpark.
• You know, approximately, how much several thousand dollars in ones is.
• You also know how heavy $500 in quarters is.
• Disorganized tills are the worst thing ever. Especially when the wristbands look like they got in a fight, and the bills are facing the wrong way, and the cashiers strapped their own bills, and the whole thing looks like one wet, demented brick.
• You know who was doing dog fights in the maintenance garage.
• You know there is a very distinct difference between 10-25ing someone and 10-25ing WITH someone (with the lights off, in Cash Control).
• It's been two weeks since you worked but you could still probably balance the vault in your sleep.
• You probably have epilepsy and/or nightmares from the crappy/demented TV (until you realize it's actually the camera...)
• You probably have arthritis from shredding so many receipts.
• The skin by your nails on your fingers is all mangled from rolling coins.
• You know there is nothing worse than forgetting to send the Revenue Report.
• No, the marketing room is not open.
• If there is a month old protein shake or a random pair of shoes sitting in the room, we all know who they belong to...;)
• Making tills is actually pretty fun. But you probably still can't do it without looking at the paper.
• You hand-strap bills to kill time. Or if they're fives, because let's be honest...that machine is kind of dumb.
• You secretly love counting Tube and Parking tills more than any other till.
• Buying a Justin Bieber poster was the best thing we did with our fun money. Everyone loved it. Especially Dan.
• Paycheck/Pool Party Friday's are the worst. And the Saturday morning after is pretty bad, too.
• Walking through the park at 11:00 at night is one of the scariest things you've ever done.
• You know how to work the teal collared shirt, all day, every day.
• And you love wings. A lot. Especially if your name is Kela. So lets go get some wings soon, agreed?

And more, but seriously. Thanks for the best summer, ever.

Love,
Kela

Kaela Radio

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So, it's been a long time since I've blogged.

I'm sorry. My only excuse for this is because I tend to blog more when I'm using my laptop regularly, and since it's summer and I work a ton I really don't use my laptop that often. It's feeling neglected and I'm sorry. But, once school starts, that will probably change, and then I can have another excuse to procrastinate my homework.

I've also just had nothing to blog about! I've got a couple ideas, but they are still in the works. But today, I was sitting outside in my awesome chair hammock, which I am going to miss very much when I leave for college (don't even get me started on what I am going to miss when I go to college), when the idea just CAME to me!! And I figured, since I haven't blogged in a while, and I used to do weekly spiritual thoughts on my blog, which I no longer do but should really start up again, this can be my attempt to get back into blogging about both regular things and spiritual things.

Did that make any sense?

I'm back!

Okay, this thought I had requires some back story. I work at Seven Peaks. I love my job. I work in the only two departments who are allowed to listen to music, and I work roughly 40 hours a week, so I've got a lot of time to listen to music.

I won't really get into what we listen to in HR. Part of it is just that I'm SUPER picky when it comes to what sounds I allow to grace my ears.....so that's why I tend to complain a lot about what we listen to in there. Some times I'm more justified than others. (If you've talked to me in the past month, you know exactly what I'm talking about.)

But, I also work in Cash Control! I love Cash Control! We listen to 1D radio, Justin Bieber radio, and NSYNC radio, just to name a few. I love Pandora. A lot.

Through listening to Pandora so much, I've discovered just how awesome it is. It's not just about making a station. If you like a song, they'll play it more times than you'll ever want to hear it. If you dislike a song, it won't play on that station again. You can add songs or artists to a playlist to add some variety. For the person who is too lazy to find songs she likes and put them onto her phone/iPod, Pandora is perfect.

On days when I'm in the mood for some B.O.B, I turn on B.O.B radio.

On days when I'm in the mood for Jason Mraz, I turn on Jason Mraz radio.

On days when I'm in the mood for top 40 songs, I turn on Top Hits radio.

But what about the days when I'm in the mood for everything? What if I want a Pandora station to play me everything I, Kaela Carter, enjoy listening to? And only stuff I enjoy listening to? What if I want a balanced mix of all of the music I like? A station that will play Usher one minute, and Coldplay the next?

Thus, Kaela Radio was born.

Kaela Radio has been my summer project. A challenge, if you will. The ultimate challenge to create the Pandora radio station that will be perfect for me.

I started out with creating Justin Bieber radio. Then I added all of my favorite artists to it, and a couple of my favorite songs, and now it's mostly been about liking or disliking songs. Right now, Kaela Radio is still in the works. But my goal is to have it perfected by the end of the summer. Seeing as how I rarely get to listen to Kaela Radio, that probably won't happen.

At this point, I'm sure anyone still reading this is wondering something like "So...I thought there was a spiritual point to this? Thou blaspheming troll!"

(I use the word troll a lot, because I think it's funny. But usually people give me weird looks whenever I say it.)

There is a spiritual point to this. Right now, not only am I trying to perfect Kaela Radio, I'm also trying to perfect Kaela...Kaela! Me! Now that I'm moving out in just 17 short days, starting BYU, and beginning my adult life, I've realized I have a lot of decisions to make. Who I am is the biggest one. In psych we talked about the Identity/Role Confusion stage of life a lot. (Erikson. I remember that because I'm awesome.) It's not that I'm confused about who I am, so much as I can see in my mind's eye who I want to become, but I know I'm not quite there yet. In fact I'm not even close. Just as I have a vision of what I want Kaela Radio to look like when it's perfected, I have a vision of who I want to be.

So, as I sat outside in my chair hammock, I realized the connection between my goal to gain this identity, and perfect Kaela Radio. So now I'm going to try to explain that.

When I created Kaela Radio, I combined all of my favorite artists and songs, but that didn't automatically make it the perfect station, because Pandora can't read my mind, so they don't know exactly what I want. Just like in real life, I don't know exactly what I want!

Just like I have to build my Pandora station slowly, by liking or disliking each song, and by adding artists when I find someone who I like, or by taking away artists when it's playing too much rap, I have to build my own character bit by bit. If there is a characteristic I want to add, such as someone who has a firm testimony, reads her scriptures every day, never gossips, etc., then I have to start practicing those things so I can make them habits. With each decision I make, it's like liking or disliking a song. If I'm disliking and liking all of the right songs, then Kaela Radio becomes more balanced and closer to what I want it to be. If I like too much of something, then it'll only play that, and that's when I get into the problem of it playing tons of weird hipster music that I don't even like. If I dislike too many songs, it will stop letting me skip them and sometimes it even gets angry and completely stops working. So if I'm making too many wrong decisions, then I start going down a path that is actually really hard to come back from. And, unlike Pandora, in life you can't just go into "settings" and un-like a bunch of songs so that you are automatically back on the right path. And, of course, unlike Pandora, life isn't as simple as adding an artist or disliking a song. If I want a certain characteristic, I can't just "add" it and it's automatically there. I have to work for it, constantly, until it becomes a habit.

The truth is, I will never "perfect" Kaela radio. Why? Because my music taste is constantly changing! There may come a day where I don't like B.O.B anymore (that day will never actually come though), and I'll have to fix my radio station again. Just like in life, every experience I have is going to change me. And, of course, I'll never reach perfection in this life. That's just kind of a given.

Well, this wasn't as spiritual as I thought it was going to be. I'm sorry the return to my blog was more philosophical than funny, but I'm working on it.

Have a great day!

Love,
Kaela

Kaela's Not-So-Realistic College Guide: Chapter 3: Taking My Own Advice

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The other day in Cash Control, Kat said to me, "You know Kaela, maybe you should read your own blog."

She was right. Sometimes I really need to take my own advice. But, for the times that I don't take my own advice, I get great stories to blog about. Someday, I'll just write a book. But for now, I just have this blog, and I feel a little more safe talking about the crazy people I meet on here, because I doubt anybody will find it.

Remember this? All of my fancy ideas on how to scare off a marriage hungry RM? Remember how I tested out the Underage and I was all, "oh yeah, this should be highly effective!"

I'm like, 0 for 2 on the Underage working. You would think that telling a 20-something year old "Hey, I'm 17. I'm so young I can't even buy dry ice, and insurance companies charge my parents extra because I'm so young and immature," would be enough to send any man packing, but for some reason it really doesn't even phase them. I've been milking the Underage for all it's worth, because I've only got a few days left until it becomes even less effective than it already is....and all it's given me in return is a good excuse to cancel a date at the very last minute.

Yeah. That was a weird situation. And I'm not even going to talk about it because I'm still pissed that I even let myself get into that situation. I learned a lot of important lessons though. One of which was, just because someone is cute, doesn't mean they aren't crazy. I'm pretty sure that's also the closest I've ever come to being proposed to. It was terrifying.

I remember a long time ago, I was talking to my mom at the dentist. She said something like, "buying you your 5th retainer because you keep losing them/never wear them costs several thousand dollars. But, since we have insurance, we only have to pay a couple hundred."

Insurance is great. I love my temple insurance. It was comforting to know I had temple insurance throughout the insanity of this week. But, it also got me into some trouble. I was willing to take some risks because I knew I had temple insurance.

Well guess what. Smart people with health insurance don't drink expired milk every day just because they can. Smart people with home insurance don't burn their house down just because they can. Smart people with life insurance don't jump off skyscrapers just because they know their families will be covered in the incident of their death. Smart people don't do stupid things just because they have insurance.

So. I'm going to try to start being a smart people.

Love,
Kaela

Mormon Winning

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I have an institute teacher named Brother Eggett who, every lesson he gives finds itself on the top ten best lessons I've ever received list. I don't think that was grammatically correct. And I don't think grammatically is a word.

Anyways, last time he gave us some advice, and today I tried it out.

He told us that whenever he resists a temptation, he likes to start singing "We Are the Champions."

So today, that is exactly what I did. And guess what: it is basically one of the coolest feelings ever. True swag. Thanks, Queen.

Love,
Kaela

Coincidence? I think not!

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Hopefully these 1:00 AM ramblings make sense.

I've come to realize something in the course of my life. I think I'm learning how to better recognize the Lord's hand in my own life.

Here's what I've been able to discern.

Crazy coincidences.....aren't all that coincidental.

It's like....a bunch of puzzle pieces being dropped on the floor and they all land in the right place. Some might say, wow! What a crazy coincidence!!

But to me it seems more like the Lord is just really good at puzzles.

I like to think everything happens for a reason. The good and the bad. But when you look at your life and think, "What are the chances that all of these extremely unlikely things would have fallen into place in such a way that would have created this specific outcome?" you can look at that as proof that the Lord is directing your paths, so to speak.

The point of all of that is this: God works in mysterious ways. And when crazy 'coincidences' are lining up perfectly towards a specific outcome, you can basically guarantee that "specific outcome" is pretty important.

Yeah....I hope that made sense.

Have a fantastic day/night/thing!

Love,
Kaela